Ben Carson Accepts Appointment As Head Of HUD

Hours after Donald Trumpnominated Ben Carson as Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the former Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon accepted the position, according to a tweet by Dan Scavino, a senior adviser and director of social media for the President-elect.

“I am honored to accept the opportunity to serve our country in the Trump administration,” read the tweet, attributed to Carson, at the Trump Tower Atrium, his New York offices.

“I am honored to accept the opportunity to serve our country in the Trump administration."Dr. Ben Carson pic.twitter.com/vTFFLVyLAF

About an hour before the confirmation, Trump tweeted that he was “thrilled to nominate” Carson for the job, and released a statement on Facebook saying that “Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities. We have talked at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message of economic revival, very much including our inner cities.”

The 65-year-old retired neurosurgeon will now oversee an agency with a $47 billion budget, and he has made it clear that he opposes government intervention in long-entrenched issues of inequality including segregation in housing and schools, calling it “social engineering.” He stressed in his autobiography that individual effort, not government programs, is the key to overcoming poverty.

The New York Timesreports that he has no expertise in housing policy, but he did spend part of his childhood in public housing, said a close friend, Armstrong Williams (is that like, “I’m not a doctor but spent the night at a Holiday Inn?”).

The Department of Housing and Urban Development oversees programs that provide vouchers and other rental assistance for five million low-income families, fights urban blight and helps struggling homeowners stave off foreclosures.

Many are not thrilled with the appointment, saying Carson has absolutely no government experience nor has he run a large bureaucracy. They sounded off on Twitter.

Ben Carson is in no way imaginable qualified to be HUD secretary—or for that matter, ANY high gov't office. Does Trump think this is a game?